Hindu fundamentalists behind Godhra train burning: Justice Katju

New Delhi: Justice Katju, ex-Supreme court judge and former Chairman Press Council of India who is known for his fearless views today made a comment on his face book page regarding the infamous Godhra carnage and accused Hindu fundamentalists for the incident which killed hundreds of Muslims. He wrote on the page that, many people asked me what proof I had to say that it was some Hindu fundamentalist organization, and not Muslims, who were responsible for the attack and killing of 54 Hindus in Godhra ?

Well it is true I have no direct evidence. But there is something called circumstantial evidence too, and people have even been hanged on the basis of circumstantial evidence.

In cases of circumstantial evidence motive is very important, as every criminal lawyer knows. So we have to ask the question: who would benefit by the killing of the 54 Hindu ‘Rambhakts’ ? It is obviously those who made it a pretext for attacks on Muslims, and communalizing the state of Gujarat. Suddenly Gujarat witnessed a sharp communal divide—the 91% Hindus on one side, and the 9 % Muslims on the other. Who would benefit from this divide, and who actually did ?

This reminded me of the Gleiwitz incident on 1st September 1939.

Hitler wanted to invade Poland, but wanted a pretext for doing so. So he got some Germans dressed up in Polish soldiers’ uniforms, and ordered them to attack a radio station in Germany. After this was done, Hitler announced that it was Poland which had had attacked Germany, not vice versa, and hence the German army was taking ‘ defensive measures ‘, which was a euphemism for a full blown invasion of Poland.

Many people claim that the slaughter of 2000 Muslims in Gujarat was only a ‘ pratikriya ‘ (reaction) to the killing of 54 Hindus in Godhra. Well, ‘Kristallnacht’ in Germany in November 1938 was also claimed by the Nazis to be a reaction to the killing of a German diplomat by a Jew in Paris.

In the Nuremburg Trials held after the end of the Second World War in 1945 the truth about both Kristallnacht and the Gleiwitz incident was revealed.